Steve,
Here's a Cliff Notes version:
My dad was one of five brothers who were golf pros from Texas (8 brothers 5 pros). After a spell in West Memphis Arkansas he came to Atlanta CC where he was the asst. pro under Davis Love Jr. He then took the head pro job at Ansley Golf Club (the 9 hole course in downtown Atlanta). Ansley in 1966 or so bought property in Dunwoody and built an 18 hole golf course and my dad was pro at both courses. He would open Ansley in the AM, my mom (with me in a baby basket in the office) would come around 11:00 to stay and close the downtown course and my dad would head north to open the new 18 hole course at lunch time.
Dunwoody was so far out in "the boonies" then that no one had any interest in being that far out before then
At some point the new course on the northside became a source of tension as the older in town members had no idea why in the world their money should be wasted on an 18 hole course so far out of town and the club allowed a small group to split off and create their own seperate entity--Dunwoody CC. At that point my dad decided to move north and be the first golf pro of Dunwoody CC.
A few years later in 1973 Equitable Life Insurance Company was developing a huge golf and country club community even farther out in the boonies in Alpharetta, GA and needed a golf guy with a good reputation to run the place. With barely two nickels to rub together my dad and a partner agreed to a 7 year lease from Equitable to run the golf course, country club, pool and tennis courts while the development was being built out.
Joe Lee was the architect and the course was built in 1973 and opened in 1974 with bermuda greens for the summer. The opening was rushed since they needed some $$$ fast. In the fall tupersan was applied to kill the bermuda and bent grass was planted.
Early on the course struggled a lot. By 1980 my daad and his partner managed to buy out Equitable and in 1988 my dad bought out his partner. There have been many ups and downs but the course struggled through and recent development and northside Atlanta growth have allowed the club to suceed. We had a nice members course, a great location (by 1988) and a lot of luck.
My dad was injured while I was in college and died in 2003 the last 17 years of his life as a quadrapalegic
When he passed my mother, sister and I had to either sell out or make a commitment/investment that would bring our course up to "snuff" so to speak with the competition around us.
Mike Riley was hired and we decided to try and build a unique look for Atlanta. Influenced by my golf experiences and yes--this website--(I also always loved course architecture and had read everything Doak, Dye, Thomas and Darwin wrote and I loved the older courses) I asked Mike to not worry about making something that we traditionally think of as "commercially appealing".
I believed there was/is a market for interesting golf architecture at a low price in a real private club setting. If we focus on the golf and keep the course in good shape the rest will take care of itself.
Honestly, we did a good job of communicating with the membership and they really just trusted us. It was as simple as a matter of faith in what Mike and I were doing from my mother as well as the members. While we have an advisory board I did not create a renovation committee.
I was not the architect by any stretch as that was Mike Riley although the way the process went was that Mike and I were on site every day (except 5 days)!! so it was extremely hands on. We had an arrangement with Medalist Golf that after shaping bunkers or greens they would give us a couple of days to look at it, sleep on it and make any changes if we felt like it. That process worked very well and I can not say enough good things about Mike Riley or Medalist Golf. My club was certainly "small time" but both Mike and Medalist treated us like we were one of the "big boys" they often work for.
Of course some members wished for bright white sand and manicured bunker edges, wish we had spent money on fancy stone bridges and fountains in the lakes but quite honestly Mike and I were shocked at how 99% of the membership "bought in" to what we are doing. My superintendent is shocked to this day about the lack of complaints when I add more fescue or more love grass on bunker edges! So far we have been able to capitalize on our golf first focus and the interest of the golf course is truly unique for Atlanta.
On a very shameless note when Mike and I first spoke and he was getting a feel for what I was looking for and one thing I said was:
My dream is that when a golfer comes into town they will of course want to play AAC, Peachtree, ACC--all the "names" but I would love it if golfers "in the know" also would say something like this--you know, those courses are great and all but for a hidden gem that you've never heard of, try Rivermont. It's certainly not fancy and the clubhouse needs some work, but for really cool golf, you ought to check it out."
I am not sure but early reports have been very positive about the course and Mike's green complexes are as good as any.
I know this a long post and I'm sorry but it really has been an amazing ride in the golf business.
See you at Camargo.